


crazy (or falling in love)

by vindicatedtruth (behindtintedglass)



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 08:27:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17362520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/behindtintedglass/pseuds/vindicatedtruth
Summary: The Enterprise senior crew see the signs—and immediately recognise what it all means. Now all that's left is for their Captain and their Commander to figure it out for themselves.





	crazy (or falling in love)

**Author's Note:**

> Story title from the lyrics of [this song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6J1-eYBbspA). Chapters based entirely on [this](https://www.5lovelanguages.com/).

 

 

They manage to make it inside the cave before the ceiling to the entrance promptly collapses.

“Shit,” Hikaru softly curses as the dust settles, revealing the boulders effectively blocking their only way out. “We’re trapped.”

“Location of the rest of the away team?” he hears his Commander ask sharply from behind him, and he winces; he considers himself lucky that he isn’t called out for stating the obvious.

“They’re on other side, Sir,” Hikaru answers as he replaces his phaser in its holster. “Thankfully they didn’t get buried in the rubble, but now they’re facing the indigenous tribe alone.”

“We will just have to trust in their capability to protect themselves,” Commander Spock calmly intones, “and to beam back to the Enterprise if necessary. I am confident that Lieutenant Hendorff will take the proper measures to protect the rest of the crew.”

“Yeah well,” Hikaru sighs as he flips his communicator close, “they have better luck than we do. Geological interference is messing with the signal. We can’t beam out.”

He gets a raised eyebrow in response and he almost winces again; he has long since learned that his Commander has very little patience with painfully obvious remarks. “We have more pressing matters at hand, Lieutenant, as the Captain is gravely injured and is in a great deal of suffering.”

“Now Spock, no need to be dramatic,” Captain Kirk wheezes as he struggles to rise from his prone position on the ground, before he lets out a strangled yell as he buckles under his own weight. Hikaru instinctively reaches out to catch him, but the Commander gets there first.

“Captain, you must desist making unnecessary movements as it will only exacerbate your injury.”

Hikaru looks up at the sharpness of Commander Spock’s tone, sensing something... _deeper_ than logic in that statement. Is he… _worried_ about Captain Kirk?

Hikaru mentally shakes himself. Vulcans don’t concern themselves with something as trivial as _worry._

… Right?

He watches the Commander lower his superior officer on the ground with surprising gentleness as the Captain hisses in pain. He’s startled when the Commander meets his gaze questioningly, and he rushes forward to assist in rearranging the Captain’s limbs, careful not to jostle the Captain’s broken leg, which is sticking out at such an alarming angle that Hikaru’s pretty sure the human anatomy just isn’t designed to _bend_ that way.

“Your fibula has broken through your skin,” Commander observes as calmly as if he’s talking about something as trivial as the weather. “If the wound is not closed soon, you will soon lose a fatal amount of blood or succumb to an infection.”

The Captain, to Hikaru’s amazement, manages to laugh despite cringing at the spikes of pain the movement entails. “Ever the ray of sunshine as always, Mister Spock.” He grins at the Commander beneath sweaty and dirt-grimed bangs. “You have an even _worse_ bedside manner than Bones, you know that?”

Despite the grimness of their situation, Hikaru can’t help but bite back a smirk at the exasperation Commander Spock is obviously fighting to not show. “As Lieutenant Commander McCoy is a trained medical professional, I should be more concerned if he happens to be worse than I. Lieutenant Sulu, the medkit, quickly.”

As Hikaru turns away and rifles through their emergency supplies, he hears the Captain remark in amusement, “Competitive too. You know I love you best, right?” making Hikaru roll his eyes—the Captain and the Commander sure have chosen the _worst_ timing to flirt.

… Wait, _what_?

Thankfully, both of his commanding officers are too distracted— _by each other, good lord_ —to notice the gobsmacked expression on his face as he hands the medkit to Commander Spock.

“I will attempt to perform emergency measures to alleviate your injury, Captain, until Doctor McCoy can personally attend to you. However,” and here Commander Spock uncharacteristically hesitates, “there is something I am going to need your permission for.”

“Whatever it is, Mister Spock, you have my consent.”

Hikaru stares.

“Captain.” Commander Spock’s exasperation is now tinged with _fondness_. “Your unconditional trust is both gratifying and concerning, given that you do not yet know what it is I am proposing.”

At this, the Captain manages to smile, the expression so _tender_ that Hikaru suddenly feels uncomfortably like a voyeur. “You’re you, Spock,” Captain Kirk says softly. “I know you have good intentions, I know you’re gonna be _good_ at it, and I trust you completely.”

Commander Spock swallows. “Very well,” he whispers in turn, and leans forward—and for one heart-stopping moment, Hikaru is _completely_ convinced that Commander Spock is going to _kiss_ their Captain.

Hikaru inhales sharply—and blinks when Commander Spock positions three of his fingers along the Captain’s face. Commander Spock closes his eyes in concentration, and Hikaru watches in wonder as the lines of pain ease from Captain Kirk’s features as his expression goes slack and peaceful.

Hikaru _gapes._ “Commander, did you just—put the Captain under? Without actual _anaesthesia_?”

“Set the bone now, Lieutenant, while he cannot feel any pain,” Commander Spock orders, and it finally makes Hikaru snap into action. He quickly sprays on what’s left of the decontaminants from the medkit onto his hands and sets the Captain’s horribly mangled leg back into place. Thank _god_ for the first aid training he had with Ben—

… _Oh my god_ , Hikaru internally exclaims to himself in that exact moment of realisation.

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he hears Commander Spock murmur; Hikaru looks up in time to see the Vulcan finally extracting his fingers from Captain Kirk’s face. Commander Spock meets Hikaru’s gaze, and Hikaru is a _little_ disconcerted to see those eyes soften into an infinitesemal smile, and he swallows back the response that rises to his tongue: _I thought thanks were supposed to be illogical._

Then again, when it comes to saving Captain Kirk’s life, it seems that Commander Spock is more than willing to throw logic out the window.

And Hikaru is beginning to suspect why.

“I initiated a shallow mind-meld with the Captain,” Commander Spock answers Hikaru’s unspoken question as his deft Vulcan fingers begin closing up the wound. “I realise in retrospect that the emergency procedures could still have been done without… invading the Captain’s privacy, but I—”

Hikaru holds his breath nervously as his normally put-together Commander struggle with words. “I find…” Commander Spock ventures hesitantly, “that I am unwilling to let the Captain go through unnecessary pain.”

Hikaru watches Commander Spock reach up and gently stroke the Captain’s face with the tips of his fingers—and Hikaru recognises this gesture for what it is.

This isn’t for or because of a mind-meld.

“When I know it is within my power to spare him suffering,” Commander Spock murmurs, “I will not hesitate to do so.”

Hikaru meets his Commander’s gaze evenly when he turns to him. “I do, however, recognise and acknowledge my breach in privacy, and you are free to include that in your report to the Admiralty, Lieutenant. I am willing to face whatever consequences that will necessarily entail.”

Hikaru smiles gently. “No need, Commander. The Captain has given you his consent. And besides,” he shrugs, “What you did, it was…”

_What I would have done for Ben, because I love him._

“… logical.”

Commander Spock is now looking at him thoughtfully. Hikaru calmly allows himself to be scrutinised, and wonders when the Commander is going to arrive at the same conclusion he already has.

Finally, Commander Spock nods once, as if to himself. “I am gratified to hear that, Lieutenant. Thank you.”

Hikaru shakes his head to cover the bemused smile that’s tugging at his mouth. “I’m going to search for another exit, Commander. You should stay with the Captain.”

At this, Commander Spock looks torn. “I must insist that you should be the one to stay, Lieutenant. Given that as a Vulcan, I have three times the strength you have, therefore it is only logical—”

“—that you should be the one to protect the Captain in his vulnerable state, should we get attacked again,” Hikaru interrupts as he gestures at Captain Kirk’s prone and unconscious form. _And I get the feeling you don't want to be separated from him right now,_ he privately adds. “Besides,” he jokes lightly, “do you really trust Lieutenant Hendorff’s combat abilities more than _mine_?”

He isn’t prepared for his Commander to seriously answer: “You are the best fighter in the Enterprise, Lieutenant Sulu. I would entrust no other with my own life, and the Captain’s.”

Hikaru looks away at the warmth that flushes through him at what he believes is unwarranted praise. “Then I endeavour to not let either of you down, Sir.”

He powers up his phaser and starts walking at a path that leads deeper into the cave. He stops, hesitates, and glances over his shoulder to have one last look.

He kind of understands the guilt Commander Spock had felt, as he now feels the same discomfort in intruding in what he’s now pretty sure is a private moment: the Commander is caressing the Captain’s cheek with the back of his hand, gazing at him with a look that Hikaru has never before seen—one that’s infinitely more vulnerable than the Captain’s own state.

He remembers, suddenly, the very first time he had woken up to a look exactly like that, and it had been one that was playing on Ben’s face before he had leaned down to kiss him good morning the day after their… wedding night.

Hikaru shakes his head again, this time unable to fight the amused smile that spreads over his own face. He wonders if Commander Spock recognises that look— _that touch_ —for what it is. He wonders if the Captain will figure it out for himself first.

He snorts at the thought as he resumes his journey. He’s not really a betting man anymore—gotta reign in the gambling habits for his daughter’s sake—but he can bet all his life savings on the high probability that the answer to both of those questions is _no._

He grins as he breaks out into a jog. He can’t wait to tell the rest of the crew.

 

 

 


End file.
